The Uncaged Bird -Hummingbird feeder is up!
Stunning good news re the Mallee emu-wren!
Are there similar self-rescue stories over there?
Gosh, it’s been a while since we’ve opened this thread - happy 2019, bird lovers!
I’ve just read this lovely article article about the eastern curlews. I hadn’t realised that the chicks fly from Siberia over China to Australia pretty much as soon as they know how to flap - and that their parents have already left them to fend for themselves!
They spend a short time here then flap their way back to Siberia, so the cycle can begin again. Except now they’re losing safe habitat all over the globe.
when you think the curlew evolved from a dinosaur that was basically a crocodile-like thing with feathers (all birds did), I’m just in awe at the journeys they make.
This Murmuration is possibly the stuff of some people's nightmares while others find it incredibly beautiful and the epitome of harmony in Nature
Albatross! Live and 24/7 via webcam!
@Morganna! Did you hear about the European robin in Beijing???
Newly hatched cygnets! 
Maybe a week old, with very protective parents.
Everything is so hot and dry here, even though we’re not as badly affected as most of the rest of Australia, that the water levels in our lake have fallen dramatically. We’re starting to get a narrow mud-beach just in front of our house. That will be rough for the turtles, they need deeper water.
Anyway, more of the waders are joining us for breakfast. I hadn’t noticed before how brightly blue their legs and feet are, I hope it show in the pics. (They’re not very bright, for some reason)
@Morganna, we need an updated title, when you have time, please. 
@joanne, starting from the bottom those cygnets are delightful. I've been trying to get an interesting photo at my feeder for awhile but until the recent cold snap, I didn't see much variety. Now I'm seeing blue jays, and 2 species of woodpeckers, of course cardinals, mourning doves, tufted titmice, juncos and sparrows.
I was adopting out kittens for months and I'm taking a small break to start working in my studio, a space that I had lent to the kittens. Just started painting a black cap chickadee. Also on the easels, a portrait of a vampire and a werewolf.
Thoughts are turning to spring as the calendar is ready to turn a page. I can tough out February because I know March is right behind.
Did you ever read the book Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy? I start it often on January 1st. Little daily essays. Suggestions for living a life of gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy. Kind of a pleasant way to start the year.
I must look out for that book!
Our gardens and open spaces help to balance the tension and chaos of modern life, don’t they
Thought you’d love this pic of a ‘bird with 10 legs’
joanne said:
Thought you’d love this pic of a ‘bird with 10 legs’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-27/combcrested-jacana-waterbird-carrying-chicks-to-safety/10737512
An interesting story, as well.
Who's a pretty gull, then?
I'll be looking at these birds with a different eye now.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-10/seagull-bird-photography-sydney-andre-braun-head-on/9742590
marksierra said:
joanne said:An interesting story, as well.
Thought you’d love this pic of a ‘bird with 10 legs’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-27/combcrested-jacana-waterbird-carrying-chicks-to-safety/10737512
way to ruin the suspense
Sudden visit by a flock of robins, (not to be confused with a Flock of Seagulls.)
This happened once in the late fall a couple of years ago. They fly in to feast on the Holly berries, sometimes about 50, stay for a couple of days and then leave.
This lovely sight greeted us night before last as we drove home around 6pm, just as it approaching dusk (so the light isn’t too great).
The swans don’t usually walk on our street, they usually hang out on either boundary street in our village. Obviously the cygnets had chosen where the family was walking! Also, they don’t usually hang out with the ducks much, unless it’s for a few minutes as they fight for some seed or crumbs etc, so it was such a surprise and so peaceful to see them weeding our opposite neighbour’s lawn!
Those cygnets are now about the size of a roasting chook you’d have a family dinner. Still extraordinarily fluffy! Just a couple of weeks ago they were just bigger than my hand.
Oh! We think there’s a baby cormorant around! Haven’t seen its parents, but it seems to be in a mud nest in the drying lake.
Lovely!
I'm getting ready for warmer days and just ordered a new hammock!
Some of the boys on my lawn are showing off their skills. I'm guessing they hope to impress the local girls.
That snow has disappeared quickly! I thought you’d be covered for months yet.
Do those bucks ever get carried away and damage your cars, sheds etc?
Nothing gets damaged. I often have a dozen adults in the backyard. They barely move when I come outside to feed birds or go to the garage.
We had almost no snow this year. The couple of inches that we had quickly melted. Best winter in years despite the bitter cold snap for a week.
The beautiful Night Parrot, and the traditional history
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-10/night-parrot-chase/10612496
Photos are gorgeous.
I had never opened this thread before today. What beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing them.
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the endangered Eastern Curlew is leaving Siberia and coming here to grow fat, see the sights etc. Very exciting!
Except for the fact that we’re building over its habitat.
First Dog on the Moon explains it better than I:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/07/the-eastern-curlew-is-brave-and-courageous-and-we-want-to-put-a-resort-where-it-lives